Centre yet to receive Metro Rail Project Proposal From Odisha Govt: Hardeep Sing Puri

Feb 11,2021

Centre yet to receive Metro Rail Project Proposal From Odisha Govt: Hardeep Sing Puri

NEW DELHI (Metro Rail News): The Centre denied receiving any proposal from the Government of Odisha for the metro rail project. Union Urban and Housing Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in the Rajya Sabha while answering to an unstarred question asked by BJP MP from Odisha Ashwini Vaishnav on Feb 11, 2021.

The Union Minister further said that urban transport is a State subject and the State Governments are responsible for initiating, developing and funding urban transport infrastructure including metro rail projects.

The Centre government extends financial assistance for metro rail proposals in cities or urban agglomerates, on the basis of extant policy, the feasibility of the proposal and availability of resources, as and when posed by concerned State Governments, he added.

The Rajya Sabha MP wanted to know whether Centre had plans to build metro rail project in Odisha.

Odisha government had signed an agreement with Secunderabad-based Balaji Railroad System Limited (BRS) to prepare detailed project report (DPR) for a metro rail project connecting Cuttack and Bhubaneswar in 2014.

The company was to prepare the DPR of the mass rapid transit system (MRTS) covering the 30-km distance between the two cities.

In 2013, State government had mooted the introduction of the metro rail in the twin city-Bhubaneswar-Cuttack in 2013.

In 2019, Odisha Governor Ganeshi Lal, while addressing the inaugural session of the 16th Odisha Legislative Assembly had said that the State government will attempt to connect Cuttack with smart city Bhubaneswar by Metro train.